Computing devices, such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants, mobile communication devices, portable entertainment devices (e.g., handheld video games, multimedia players, etc.), and set-top-boxes (e.g., digital cable boxes, digital video disc (DVD) players, etc.) may include user interface devices that facilitate interaction between a user and the computing device. One type of user interface device that has become common is a touch-sensor device or touch input device that operates by way of capacitance sensing. A touch-sensor device may be embodied as a touchscreen, touch-sensor pad, touch-sensor slider, or touch-sensor buttons, and may include a touch sensor comprising an array of capacitive sensor elements. Capacitive sensing typically involves scan operations that periodically measure changes in capacitance associated with the capacitive sensor elements to determine a presence, position, and/or movement of a conductive object (e.g., a stylus, a user's finger, etc.) relative to the touch sensor.
Touch sensors are an expensive part of a touch-sensor device or the user interface system thereof. One reason for the high manufacturing cost of touch sensors is that conventional sensors use either multiple layers of electrode materials formed on multiple substrates or a single substrate with a series of “jumpers” to form electrical connection between the individual electrode segments and insulate them from the other electrodes that intersect them. One way to reduce the high cost of touch sensors is to route the trace portions (or segments) of electrodes tightly together on the active area of a single substrate without the use of “jumpers”. However, this type of sensor construction leads to increased capacitive cross-coupling between the electrodes (e.g., especially in response to a conductive object touch), thereby causing false touches, inaccuracy, and poor touch-response linearity, all of which limit the functionality of the touch-sensor device and/or lead to poor user experience.